Cam Newton the next VY?

To be fair, it is more than color. David Carr was never any good to begin with. Same with guys like Kyle Boller, Ryan Leaf, Joey Harrington. I would also not compare either to guys like Akili Smith or Byron Leftwich were were also busts. However, I would compare both to Matt Leinart.

Cam does share similarities with Vince:

Both were rookie of the year and regressed in their second year

Both are excellent runners

Both were big college superstars who faced no real on field adversity

As such neither had a chance to learn how to deal with failure

Making things worse, both are surrounded by an entourage of yes men and schiesters, including some of their family

Cam has already started pouting on the sideline when things do not go his way......much like Vince did

Cam also has issues earning the respect of his teammates much like Vince did

Many of these points apply to Leinart as well.

All star QBs need to learn to deal with adversity sooner or later. It is the final breaking point. They have to earn their way and handle that adversity or they will never make it. Consider the following:

Tom Brady -- 6th round draft pick, had to split snaps at Michigan

Aaron Rodgers -- Was not heavily recruited out of HS, went to a JC. Had to beat out Ol' Gun Slinger to get his starting position

Drew Brees -- Second round pick, first team gave up on him

Payton Manning -- As much as a hero as he was in college he still had to deal with getting dummied by Flordia every year -- Remember, you can't spell Ciutrus Bowl without UT

Steve McNair -- No major college wanted him as a QB so he went to Alcorn State

Ben Roethlesberger -- Another small college guy

Kurt Warner -- Too much to list

Brett Favre -- Another small college guy who played in a wing-t offense in HS. Had to earn his starting position with his second NFL team

Those are all really good points. Summary is that you have to work toward delayed gratification to be a "professional". You can't win every time but you can give your best every time. Often, you don't get what you want. But you have to accept what you get and constantly work to make it what you want.

Cam is immature but he at least seems to have a reasonable family support system. Hopefully for the Panthers fans sake, he can get educated on the productive ways to behave when frustrated and the professional ways to be behave when successful (no more Superman poses). Otherwise we ARE looking at VY 2.0.

Those are all really good points. Summary is that you have to work toward delayed gratification to be a "professional". You can't win every time but you can give your best every time. Often, you don't get what you want. But you have to accept what you get and constantly work to make it what you want.

Cam is immature but he at least seems to have a reasonable family support system. Hopefully for the Panthers fans sake, he can get educated on the productive ways to behave when frustrated and the professional ways to be behave when successful (no more Superman poses). Otherwise we ARE looking at VY 2.0.

Vince appeared to have a reasonable family support system as well. In the end, that was part of the problem. He spent too much time listening to that family when he should have been listening to coaches and teammates.

I would be concerned about Cam's father in particular. He did try to sell Cam to boosters at Mississippi State. It is also a bad sign when a parent has to constantly speak to the media on your behalf:

Vince appeared to have a reasonable family support system as well. In the end, that was part of the problem. He spent too much time listening to that family when he should have been listening to coaches and teammates.

I would be concerned about Cam's father in particular. He did try to sell Cam to boosters at Mississippi State. It is also a bad sign when a parent has to constantly speak to the media on your behalf:

Vince appeared to have a reasonable family support system as well. In the end, that was part of the problem. He spent too much time listening to that family when he should have been listening to coaches and teammates.

I would be concerned about Cam's father in particular. He did try to sell Cam to boosters at Mississippi State. It is also a bad sign when a parent has to constantly speak to the media on your behalf:

This will not help him get better and will only hurt his respect with teammates.

The problem all athletes have is they're not sure who to trust. They're all of a sudden rich and have all these new voices to listen to, they just don't know how to manage that. To many of them they feel they can rely on family they know, problem is, those people aren't qualified to have a say, but athletes have a hard time saying no to people they've known for 20+ years.

That's still to this day once of Vince's problems.

As for Cam's father pimping him out, that's nothing to me honestly, why can't the kids making the universities millions of dollars profit some from all their hard work? And please don't tell me they're getting a free education, they're not. I'd say at least 60% of NCAA football players have no business attending the schools they play for. They're brought in to play football, not be students. They never stand a chance in many of those classrooms, some of these guys literally can not read at a 4th grade level.

Newton is phenomenal athlete AND he has a great arm. His throwing mechanics are decent. He puts in the hours also from what I understand. He enormous upside is limited only by his psychologic immaturity. Think what you want about his dad, but that guy knows what it takes to get ahead in his chosen profession. That sort of family dynamic can have a powerful influence upon a young man. It was something that Vince did not have. I see Newton's father getting involved to help keep Cam on the path toward success as opposed to Cam struggling on his own to figure it out.

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